Melodies of Christmas
by Bookdancer
Summary: It's Christmas and the Avengers are ready to celebrate. One-Shot.


**Okay, so I know it's not Christmas yet (five more days!), but I had to post this now. And I know it is now past Christmas, but someone reviewed and informed me that it is against the guidelines/rules to put a previously published work (including lyrics) in a fanfic. Because of that I made the decision to remove all of the lyrics from this fic. It is no longer a songfic, just a one-shot. The title is the same, though.**

**I do not own The Avengers.**

**Edit: January 1, 2013 at 14:22**

Melodies of Christmas

"Everybody wake up!" Tony cheered, his face the picture of happiness. His brown hair was still tousled from sleep, and his Santa Claus pajamas were wrinkled. His eyes, however, shown bright with excitement. "It's Christmas! Everybody up! We need to open presents!"

Slowly, Bruce, Steve, and Thor emerged from their rooms, Bruce and Steve yawning sleepily while Thor peered about curiously, asking, "What is this Christmas you speak of?"

It was only six in the morning, the earliest Tony had ever woken up in his entire life, and he could not, could _not_, stand for such foolishness. "Christmas?" He cried. "You don't know what Christmas is?"

"I am sorry." Thor admitted after a moments pause. "But no, I do not."

"One minute." Steve said, suddenly awake, his eyes scanning over three familiar faces. "Where're Clint and Natasha?"

The others froze, looking around. Bruce frowned, noting the same thing his friend had. Clint and Natasha were missing. Tony was pouting at the fact that his Christmas schedule was already being ruined (at six in the morning!). Thor was also pouting, though for a different reason. ("I still do not know what this 'Christmas' you speak of is.") The sight of Iron Man and Thor pouting like little children would have been funny, if not for two of their friends being missing. Tony finally stopped pouting when he noticed Steve and Bruce's serious faces.

"Jarvis, get me video footage of their rooms." Tony ordered.

Automatically, two holographic screens appeared and showed two empty rooms. One was painted black with a red spider on the ceiling, a black bed with red covers on it sitting against the far wall. A red desk was placed next to a closet, a closed laptop on it. There was also a black TV mounted on the wall opposite the bed. There were only three pictures in the room. One next to the TV showing a mountain with snow decorating the top. The second was on a black bedside table and showed three people – two males and one female – staring at the camera, the younger two in uniform and the third in a suit. The last picture was on the desk and was of two smiling people, both out of uniform. The female had the male in a headlock but the two were laughing.

The other room, however, was almost completely different. Whereas the former was neat, tidy, and had little to no personality (besides the color and pictures), this one was the complete opposite of neat and tidy and looked like a teenager's room. Dark purple adorned the walls, and there was no bed but a pile of pillows and blankets on a loft. Said loft had no obvious way to it, but those who had been up there (or designed it) knew there were small handholds built into the wall, painted to match the wall.

There was no TV, but there was a target with a picture strapped to it. There were darts stuck in it, although the angle of the camera made it impossible to see who the picture was of (though they could guess). Dirty laundry sat in random piles around the room, threatening to trip anyone who walked in. Instead of there only being three pictures there were several, though one lay face down on the black carpet. The ones they could see included pictures of Clint, Natasha, Phil, the Avengers, and even Fury and Agent Hill. There were also pictures of two little boys grinning at the camera, each covered in dirt but obviously happy. The only thing similar between the two rooms was that both were empty.

"They're gone." Bruce said dully. He and the other Avengers had at least thought they'd stick around for Christmas.

"The question is, where?" Steve countered. He wouldn't believe they were gone until he knew it as a fact, not a thought.

"Perhaps here?" A voice asked dryly. The four Avengers turned around quickly to see Clint and Natasha. The former dressed in black and purple plaid pajama pants with a purple shirt covering his chest. The latter in red stretchy pants and a black tank top, a black robe over that (though not closed). "You did call for us, right?" Clint asked.

"Yeah…" Tony said slowly. Then he frowned. "Where were you two?!"

Natasha shrugged. "The kitchen. Clint decided to make pancakes and hot chocolate for breakfast."

The Avengers subconsciously licked their lips. Clint's food was good. Really good. Then Tony frowned.

"We have a problem." He announced.

"What?" Steve asked, already starting to walk to the kitchen.

"Pancakes and hot chocolate or presents?" Tony groaned dramatically. In his opinion, it was the worst decision he could ever be forced to make.

"Cakes of pan, of course!" Thor declared. "We must not skip breakfast!"

"Well of course you want pancakes." Tony said, sighing. "It's food. But the presents!" He threw a glance toward the living room and their stockings and presents, which just so happened to be in the opposite direction of the kitchen.

"Why not both?" Steve asked positively. "Pancakes and hot chocolate while unwrapping presents."

"What about the syrup?" Natasha asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought of syrup getting on the brand new gun that she knew Clint would have gotten her. He got her a new weapon every year, but she had recently lost her favorite gun in a battle.

"We'll be careful." Bruce assured her. Somehow, the thought of eating while doing presents was appealing. Maybe he'd get something nice this year.

"Won't hurt." Natasha decided as Clint turned his puppy dog eyes toward her. She never could refuse those.

"Again, what is this Christmas?" Thor asked as they turned toward the kitchen.

"Well, Thor," Clint began. "Christmas is happiness. Everyone gives presents to one another, and-" Clint frowned. "And I thought Tony explained this to you when he took you to get presents."

Everyone turned to eye Tony, who smiled sheepishly. "Must have slipped my mind?"

"Course it did." Clint muttered, though he was smiling as he did so. "Anyway, Thor, you give presents to each other and Santa comes, and he gives presents to people who were good this year. You also play Christmas carols, and there's a fire, and everyone has fun."

"This sounds like great fun!" Thor boomed. "Though I thought those presents were for Steve's birthday party!"

Everyone thought back to Steve's birthday party, and vividly remembered Thor forcing each of them to take a present.

"Oops." Tony said. "Guess I really should have explained."

"You think?" Natasha muttered.

"Oh well." Steve said. "That just means Thor gave us our presents early. We can still have fun."

Minutes later the six friends were taking trays with their plates into the living room, eyes widening at the sight of all of the presents. Each looked at the stockings hanging over the fireplace, and they all had to roll their eyes when they looked at the stockings Tony had chosen. Steve's had an American flag on it, and Thor's had lightning with a hammer. Bruce's was completely green with 'SMASH!' on it in purple, and Tony's was red and gold with Iron Man's face plate sewn into it. Natasha's was black with a red spider on it, and Clint's was dark purple with a black hawk carrying an arrow.

"One of a kind!" Tony said, grinning.

"I could have sworn I hung up a different stocking." Clint muttered, and Natasha swatted him.

Tony excitedly turned on Christmas music before grabbing his stocking, prompting the others to do so as well. Each pulled out a wrapped, thin square. They glanced at each other, wondering what it was. Thor was the first to move, ripping off the paper in one pull. He revealed a Bruce Springsteen CD, and the others sighed as they noticed his and Steve's confused faces.

"It's a CD." Bruce explained. "You put it in a player and it plays music."

"Ah." Thor said. Steve went next and pulled out a Lee Greenwood CD.

"Are they all CDs?" Clint questioned. Natasha shrugged but opened hers, already knowing who it was the moment she saw the cover. Dixie Chicks. She silently put it down, though she was actually kind of happy. She liked the Dixie Chicks. Bruce snatched a bit of pancake and syrup before opening his. Beach Boys. He sighed and rolled his eyes. Tony went next, though all had a feeling they knew who it was going to be. And they were right. ACDC. Clint was last and he unwrapped it slowly, savoring the feeling of celebrating Christmas. He received an Owl City CD.*

The rest of the stockings went by quickly. Each was almost identical except for the color, size, etc. There were toothbrushes, slippers, candy, and more. By the time they were done, small piles had formed next to all of the Avengers, and everyone was done with their pancakes and hot chocolate. They took a quick break as they stepped carefully around wrapping paper piles, carrying dishes to the kitchen. When they got back they went one present at a time, opening the present, commenting, putting it down, and continuing. It wasn't that they didn't care, just that it was how they worked. They didn't bother with sentiments, there really weren't any to give or take anyway, so they just had fun.

They finally finished and began to dance around to the music. At first it was just Tony, but eventually Thor, Steve, and Bruce joined in. Then Tony accidentally danced into Clint and Natasha, who were sitting on the couch.

"C'mon! It's Christmas, have a little fun!" And they joined, singing and dancing.

_At some point eggnog was brought in, which was followed by chocolate chip cookies. And they were all drunk on happiness, all giddy with the joy of Christmas- the first real one they'd had in a long time. Songs were sung, each playfully dancing with one another. Natasha was swung from one Avenger to another, and Tony choked on his laughter when he noticed Steve and Clint kept on getting partnered with each other._

"It's a sign!" He laughed.

For a first Christmas, Thor had to admit it was probably the best one he would ever have. None of them knew what the new year would bring, be it joy and happiness or sadness. None knew whether all of them would even be alive next Christmas, so all of them laughed and sang and danced, not caring about anything in the world but that moment. And they wished they could freeze time, right there, and be happy forever.

*** Okay, so I chose some of these CDs for a reason. Bruce Springsteen cause he's my dad's favorite singer and he loves messing with the fact that I think Jayson Werth (Nationals player for those who don't know) and Thor look extremely alike. Seriously. ACDC for Tony for obvious reasons. Lee Greenwood for Steve simply because of the song 'God Bless the USA' by Lee Greenwood. I love it and I think it's perfect for Steve. Well, not necessarily Steve, but it's for all the soldiers out there who protect America. Beach Boys for Bruce because Tony's trying to get Bruce out of his shell and Beach Boys is a great 'get up and sing!' band. I chose Dixie Chicks for Natasha because it just seems to fit, especially their song 'Taking the Long Way Around'. Owl City for Clint because owls are birds and I think Clint would love his songs.**

**And that's it! Please try and review! Think of them as early (now late!) Christmas presents! :P**


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